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The collection includes letters written by various members of the Luther Rice (1799-1876) family to each other, various newspaper clippings, mostly undated, and account books detailing transactions in the lumber and sawmill businesses. There is also a small journal (1872). The correspondence includes Civil War letters from Azro A. Rice and Joseph M. Taggart when they were serving in the 16th Vermont regiment. There are also letters from children who moved west to Illinois, California, and New Mexico.

Biographical or historical data :

Luther Rice was a descendent of Deacon Edmund Rice (1594-1662) of Hertfordshire, England. He married Lucy Rogers (1802-1872) and they had six children: Azro A. (1828-1916), Benjamin Franklin (1830-1866), Marion (1833-1850), Sarah Anne (1835-11850), David (1837-1914), and Charles Henry (1839-1880). Luther Rice was a leather worker, making harnesses, shoes, and dressing or tanning hides, calf skins and other hides. He also sold lumber from his sawmill.

Related Collections :

Some items belonging to Luther Rice, including leather working tools, were transferred to the Vermont Historical Society museum (museum acc. no. 1997.11) The VHS library also holds the Partridge family account books, 1826-1920s (MSA 582-583).